searching the depths of the human condition

Horror Short: It’s Mike’s and Ike’s Surprise

The camera lies on its side, capturing a world gone askew. The thrashing and screaming just beyond the wall is a sign that things are coming to an end. Ellen Tombs, covered in blood and desperately hoping for rescue, may just be the last surviving member of a society on the brink; or she may be the last surviving member of her own household. Either way, there is enough packed into Mike’s and Ike’s short feature to warrant a longer study of Ellen’s predicament.

Titled “Surprise,” Mike and Ike’s horror short doesn’t bother with explanation, set up, or tired cliche’s. Instead, the audience is plunged in through a static camera, like voyeurs granted unfettered access to one’s most personal moments. Ellen Tombs, embodied brilliantly by actress Colleen McEuen, is this movie. For six minutes, she struggles to come to terms with the end of her family. First, she is desperate to calm the tortured soul just outside the basement. “Don’t worry,” she assures him, “someone will come.” Quickly establishing a larger mythology, Ellen’s monologue effortlessly delivers one surprise after another.

Once the screaming outside the basement ceases, Ellen panics. “Why aren’t you screaming?” she cries. When only silence returns, her fragile will is broken. Now angry and alone, her desperation turns to anger. “Fuck you for killing the world!” Who is she talking to? Surrounded on all sides by mystery and despair, Ellen represents the strength of a species facing extinction. And this realization comes to its peak toward this short film’s conclusion.

Ellen suddenly spots the camera and slowly lowers her head into frame. “Is this on?” she asks. “November 20th, 2007. Everybody’s dead.” And this is the way the world ends. I hope not. A short this fully realized deserves more attention. Mike and Ike’s script delivers six minutes of intensity; filled with surprises and despair, Episode 8 of the Mike and Ike Show (on twitter @itsmikeandike) is a promising excerpt of what, hopefully, is coming next.